1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to missile countermeasures systems for aircraft. In particular, the present invention is a Conformal Airliner Defense (CAD) system entirely contained within a conformal external mounting system which can be easily installed onto and removed from an external surface of an aircraft fuselage. The system may be economically fitted onto any large aircraft, including commercial aircraft and can be utilized to protect the aircraft from infrared (IR) missiles including man-portable air defense (MANPADS) missiles.
2. Background of the Invention
Infrared countermeasures systems which protect military aircraft from handheld or shoulder-fired missiles, such as “Stinger” missiles, are known in the art. These systems, such as Directional Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) systems, detect and track a signature associated with an approaching missile, and generate high power infrared laser signals which are transmitted as a countermeasure to confuse and defeat the attacking missile guidance system. Directional infrared countermeasure systems typically utilize an infrared-wavelength source which is passed through a rotating ball turret which is attached to the aircraft fuselage. The system also deploys numerous sensors mounted in various positions on the outside skin of the aircraft. Typically, electronic “black” boxes affiliated with the system are normally integrated into the interior of the aircraft and communicate via an avionics bus located within the fuselage of the aircraft.
With the recent substantial increase in terrorism activity directed towards commercial airliners and current ongoing Homeland Security initiatives, attempts have been made to provide commercial airliners with infrared countermeasures systems having similar capabilities to the systems utilized on military aircraft. Ideally, the known infrared countermeasures systems already being utilized by military aircraft could be installed directly on commercial aircraft giving the commercial aircraft the same level of protection that is afforded to state-of-the-art military aircraft.
However, a major drawback to this proposed solution is that the known military countermeasures systems are specifically designed for military aircraft which are specially configured to accept the aforementioned system components, including the infrared energy sources, turrets, sensors, electronic black boxes and interconnection wiring. For example, a military aircraft specified countermeasures system design typically utilizes a distributed architecture having the various components of the system mounted in several different places on the aircraft. The various components are interconnected by wire harnesses running throughout the aircraft's fuselage. These components are strategically placed within the aircraft's fuselage to insure proper external coverage, alignment, wiring interconnection, as well as weighting and balancing of the aircraft. Also, the turret and sensors are similarly strategically positioned on the aircraft at positions in which they will not be a detriment to the aircraft's aerodynamic characteristics, and yet still be able to function effectively.
On the other hand, none of the commercial airliners in service today are designed or modified to accept the aforementioned military infrared countermeasures systems. Furthermore, installation of these military systems will require extensive modifications to the various commercial airliners being utilized in the carriers' fleets. Such modifications will be extremely expensive and in most cases impracticable. Moreover, extensive recertification of the commercial airliners, due to the major modifications performed on the aircraft, will further increase the cost to install the military specified infrared countermeasures systems. As a result, the proposed solution of installing existing military infrared countermeasures systems onto currently deployed commercial airliners in the same manner that they are installed on military aircraft appears to be a very impracticable approach.
Another attempt to solve the current terrorism dilemma has been to consider utilizing a conventional flare ejecting system also known and traditionally utilized on military aircraft. With this system, flares are ejected from the aircraft which burn hot enough to draw a heat-seeking missile towards the flare. Unfortunately, utilizing flares is considered a problematic solution for commercial aircraft since the Federal Aviation Administration has commented that it would have problems certifying a system that dropped flares over populated areas.
It would be desirable to develop a missile countermeasures system which can utilize the current state-of-the art military countermeasures technology (i.e., off-the-shelf components), yet, still overcome the aforementioned aircraft installation disadvantages. For instance, with respect to available countermeasures technology, there is no need to redesign the existing rotating turrets, sensors, and supporting electrical black boxes which define a state-of-the-art infrared detecting missile countermeasures system. However, what is needed is a design which allows such components to be economically installed and utilized on currently deployed commercial aircraft without extensive modifications. Moreover, the countermeasures system should be easy to certify, maintain, and operate.